Millions of Britons abroad remained unregistered to vote in the European and
local elections

A campaign to persuade British expats to vote in the European and local elections fell well short of its target, according to the Electoral Commission.

An estimated 5.5 million Britons live overseas, but only a fraction – around 20,000 – were registered to vote in the UK as of February this year. The commission ran a campaign in the weeks before the elections on May 22 to encourage 25,000 more of them to register. However, only 7,079 did so – less than a third of the number hoped for.

The Electoral Commission's pre-ballot campaign involved advertisements on expat radio stations, and collaborations with the Foreign Office, groups such as Votes for Expat Brits, and political parties’ overseas networks.

But in a report reflecting on the campaign, the commission disclosed that, although the number of registration forms downloaded from its website by Britons overseas was higher than for the previous European elections, it “fell well short” of its target.

“Although we were disappointed not to hit our target we recognise that expatriates at these elections may have chosen to register to vote in their EU countries of residence,” said the report.

In the run up to the elections, expats who downloaded voter registration forms had to print them out, fill them in, get them countersigned by another British passport holder and then post them back to the UK. The Electoral Commission admitted this was an “onerous task” which may have been off-putting.

On June 10, the process was updated so that expats can now complete their registration entirely online at aboutmyvote.co.uk.

“The introduction of online registration will make this process a great deal more straightforward in future,” said the commission, which will launch another publicity drive targeting expats ahead of the General Election next May.

There is no option for expats to cast their votes online once they have registered, however, and they must either vote by post, or use a proxy vote. Graham Richards of the Votes for Expats campaign said this leaves their ballot papers "at the mercy of every postal system in the world".

He added: “Direct online voting is now a matter of utmost priority and will most certainly encourage more expats to register to vote.”

The UK Independence Party ended up with the most votes and seats in the European Parliament elections, in its first national election victory. The win was seen as the biggest challenge to Britain’s main parties for decades.

Conservatives Abroad, which hopes to see a victory for the Tories at the general election, is pressing the Coalition Government to abolish a controversial rule that bans expats from voting once they have lived away from Britain for 15 years.

Paul Barnes, the Conservatives Abroad head of campaigns, said: “This low level of participation is both disappointing and surprising given that evidence shows that Britons abroad are generally positive about Britain, maintain strong links and show an active interest in British politics and events.

“Britons living abroad are entitled to vote in UK general and European elections for up to 15 years after leaving the UK. Many other countries, including 23 out of 28 EU member states, allow their expats to vote without any time limit. Every Briton should have a vote.”

Mr Barnes said that around two million British expats are believed to be ineligible to vote, either because they are too young or because they are barred by the 15-year rule.

He noted that the successful wooing of expat voters could be helpful to the Conservatives, come the general election.

“We might assume, although there’s no evidence of this, that the majority of people who have moved abroad might be Conservatives. We don’t know but there are 3.5 million potential voters out there. The point is for all the parties, there seems to be this political goldmine out there which is being undermined,” he said.

Mr Barnes said other issues that could discourage expats from voting include frozen pensions and the abolition of winter fuel allowances for pensioners in warmer countries.

Anita Rieu-Sicart, who edits a monthly English-language newsletter, the Var Village Voice, for expats in France, suggested that many feel let down by British politicians.

“How do you persuade expat voters to register when MPs pay absolutely no attention, and have no interest whatsoever in expat voters or their needs?” she said, citing the Spanish planning scandal and Cyprus banking crisis, which both negatively affected Britons, as examples.

Ms Rieu-Sicart described the 15-year rule as “totally undemocratic, and indefensible” adding that “the voting system for expats is still cumbersome and off-putting”.

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said: "Online voting will not be in place for the next general election, although for the first time, those based overseas who are eligible to vote will be able to register to do so online. This will make registering to vote much easier."